The Late Late Show

I've been having more and more trouble sleeping over the last couple of years. I have lots of theories as to why, but they are irrelevant to the theme of this post.

I often use television to put me to sleep (despite what some people say). Eventually I wound up watching The Late Late Show. For the very first time. On 18 February 2007. I had never heard of Craig Ferguson before. That night's show got to me. On top of everything else I liked—especially including his rant about comedians kicking celebrities when they're down-and-out—it turns out that I'd gotten sober six months to the day after he did.

On many nights since, if I've been up at 12:35 am, I've tuned in, at least for his monologue. Last night was one of those nights. In some ways I regret that I watched that night's show first, because although there's a lot to like—it's always been a disappointment since. And after a monologue like that, how could it be otherwise?

If Mr Ferguson is a member of the same Fellowship that I am, I'd have to say he tip-toed right along that thin grey line of the 11th Tradition. He never mentioned Alcoholics Anonymous explicitly, but you'd have to have been pretty ill-informed not to know what he was referring to when he said help was "easy to find; right there near the front of the phone book." Celebrities breaking their anonymity is one of my pet peeves. Did Ferguson? Or did he not? If he's not a member, then he certainly did not. If he is a member, then either he did or he came about as close as one possibly can without doing so. And since he's the only one who can determine whether or not he's a member, I guess I'll never know. Unless I happen to run into him some day and have the chance to ask.

Once I did confront a non-celebrity who broke his anonymity. It didn't go in any direction I had imagined. But that's a post for another day.